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The Aims and Defects 

of 

College Education 

Comments and Suggestions by Prominent 
Americans 

An Original Investigation 



By 
Foster Partridge Boswell, Ph.D. 

Professor of Psychology and Education in Hobart College 
With an Introduction by 

George Eastman 

President of the Eastman Kodak Company 



The Hobart College Series 
No. i 

Published for \ , 

■ > . 

The Hobart College Press 
New York G. P. Putnam' S Sons London 

1915 



:61 



Copyright, 1915 

BY 

FOSTER PARTRIDGE BOSWELL 



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INTRODUCTION 

DROFESSOR BOSWELL has asked 
me to write a foreword for his 
Aims and Defects of College Education. 
My point of view is only that of a business 
man who, having missed the benefits of 
such an education, has observed with per- 
haps added interest its effects upon others. 
There is no doubt in my mind about the 
desirability of such an education provided 
the material is suitable; nor doubt that 
the effects which should be produced are 
increased steadiness of character and 
clearness of mind. But then there is the 
second question which involves, it seems 
to me, the use of these qualities: how 
soon a man can bring them to bear when 
he leaves college. Does not this depend 

iii 



iv Introduction 

largely upon what he has been taught and 
how he has been taught? Admitting, 
if you like, that vocational training has 
been sometimes carried along too narrow 
paths, is it not possible that a liberal 
education may be made needlessly in- 
definite? Is there really any reason why 
a young man who is contemplating enter- 
ing business when he leaves college should 
not while he is there learn something 
definite about, for instance, dealing with 
employees; about how to avoid contracts 
that are capable of more than one inter- 
pretation; about cost accounting; and the 
evils of slipshod letter writing? These 
are some of the most fundamental of the 
things which a business man has to deal 
with and are those which will confront 
the college graduate when he tries to 
transact business. They are also those 
in which his competitor has been accumu- 
lating experience while the student has 



Introduction v 

been in college. Is there any doubt that 
many college graduates are a little raw 
in respect to such matters, or that their 
mistakes are all the more conspicuous 
because they are college graduates? 
Would some instruction on such definite 
subjects lessen the breadth of say the 
regular liberal arts course? To put it 
in another way, if a young man's mind 
is the ax with which he proposes to hew 
his way through life, should he while in 
college confine all his efforts to sharpening 
the ax or should he at the same time learn 
a little about how to swing it? 

The questions raised by Professor Bos- 
well are most important and a discussion 
of them such as is had in the following 
pages cannot in my opinion fail to be of 
value. 

George Eastman. 

Rochester, N. Y. f 
March 15, 1915. 



CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 
PART I 

PAGE 

Comments by Prominent Americans on 

College Education i 

PART II 
Results and Implications 47 



vu 



PART I 

COMMENTS BY PROMINENT AMERICANS ON 
COLLEGE EDUCATION 

TJOBART COLLEGE has fortunately 
* * been able to secure the coopera- 
tion of a number of men of national 
prominence in an investigation concerning 
the proper aims and more common defects 
of college education. The comments and 
suggestions of these men, expressed in 
their own words, together with a sum- 
mary and certain conclusions of my own, 
are presented in the following pages. 

Our schools and colleges are not natu- 
rally in a position to observe the effects 
of different educational methods on the 
lives and careers of students who, having 
finished their courses of instruction, have 



2 Aims and Defects of 

gone out into the world. Educators feel, 
however, very keenly the limitations 
and defects of present-day institutions of 
learning, and are often led, in their en- 
deavors to improve matters, into making 
injudicious changes or into following un- 
wise policies of ultra-conservatism. 

It is necessary, then, for those educa- 
tional institutions which wish to discern 
the soundest practices and to properly 
adapt their curriculum of studies to meet 
present conditions, to seek all the informa- 
tion possible in regard to the worth of 
different forms of educational training 
in order to determine the proper aims to 
pursue and the defects to eliminate. 

Hobart College, therefore, desiring to 
put her methods of instruction on as 
efficient a basis as possible, addressed a 
letter of inquiry, quoted below, to a 
number of men prominent in American 
business, professional, and public life. 



College Education 3 

Such men, we considered, would not only 
be able to speak with authority from their 
own experience, but would naturally be 
in a position to observe many men, both 
college graduates and those without col- 
lege training, to compare their abilities, 
and thus to judge concerning the value of 
various educational aims and policies. 
The combined judgment of men of unusual 
ability and discernment should be of great 
assistance to all concerned with the 
problem of college education in indicating 
the wisest course to follow to obtain the 
best educational results. Two questions 
only were asked, as these were thought 
sufficient to indicate the nature of the 
inquiry, and more likely to elicit original- 
ity and freedom of discussion than would 
an elaborate questionnaire. The letter 
read as follows: 

" Hobart College desires to put her methods 
of instruction on as efficient as possible a 



4 Aims and Defects of 

basis, in order to fit her graduates, as far as a 
strictly college training may, to make good in 
the professional and business world. 

"We do not mean to give technical in- 
struction, nor to lose sight of the true pur- 
poses of a cultural education, and endeavor to 
compete with the many excellent technical 
and professional schools in which specialized 
instruction may be obtained. But we are 
nevertheless conscious that undergraduate 
education is capable of decided improvement, 
especially in regard to the purposes it is 
intended to serve in the training of the 
individual student for a useful career. 

"Therefore we should be very glad to 
obtain your opinion, together with that of 
other men prominent in American business, 
professional, and public life who are coop- 
erating with us, in regard to the two following 
questions. 

" What traits of character and mind should 
a college aim to develop in its students to 
make them useful and efficient in modern 
life? 

"In what ways does the present college 
education fail in giving students training it 
is able to give? 



College Education 5 

11 We shall be very grateful indeed for your 
kind cooperation with us in this investigation. 

1 ' Yours, etc." 

A most gratifying response was made 
by the men addressed, who were kind and 
public-spirited enough to devote much 
time and energy to cooperating with us 
in this investigation, although they were 
all busied with important affairs. Among 
those who replied were the following : 

The Hon. Joseph H. Choate, LL.D., 
formerly American Ambassador at the 
Court of St. James; the Hon. Andrew 
D. White, LL.D., formerly American 
Ambassador to Germany, and for many 
years President of Cornell University; 
the Hon. Alton B. Parker, formerly 
Democratic candidate for the Presidency 
of the United States; the Hon. Marcus 
M. Marks, President of the Borough 
of Manhattan; the Hon. Henry G. Dan- 
forth, M.C.; Charles R. Van Hise, 



6 Aims and Defects of 

LL.D., President of the University of 
Wisconsin; Eugene A. Noble, LL.D., 
President of Dickinson College ; Professor 
Frederick S. Jones, LL.D., Dean of Yale 
College; Professor John H. Wigmore, 
LL.D., Dean of Northwestern University 
School of Law; Professor Mortimer E. 
Cooley, Dean of the Department of 
Engineering of Michigan University; 
Professor Joseph F. Johnson, Dean of 
the School of Commerce, New York 
University; Professor Irving Fisher, of the 
Department of Political Economy, Yale 
University; Professor W. F. Willoughby, 
of the Department of History, Politics, 
and Economics, Princeton University; 
Anson Phelps Stokes, University Secre- 
tary, Yale University; Professor John 
B. Clark, of the Division of Economics and 
History, New York University, and of the 
Carnegie Endowment for International 
Peace; Professor J. W. Jenks, of the 



College Education 7 

School of Commerce, New York Univer- 
sity; Calvin W. Rice, Secretary of the 
American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
neers; George M. Eidlitz, of Marc 
Eidlitz & Son, New York City; Edwin B. 
Katte, Chief Engineer Electrical Traction 
of the New York Central Railroad; Mrs. 
Rose Pastor Stokes, Socialist; Hamilton 
W. Holt, of the Independent; Ernest H. 
Abbott, of the Outlook; W. P. Ham- 
ilton, of the Wall Street Journal; W. A. 
White, of the Emporia Gazette; Charles 
E. Fitch, formerly of the Rochester 
Democrat and Chronicle; F. A. Van- 
derlip, President of the National City 
Bank, New York City; Darwin P. Kings- 
ley, President of the New York Life 
Insurance Company, New York City; 
J. G. Schmidlapp, of Cincinnati; Rufus 
A. Sibley, of Sibley, Lindsey & Curr 
Co., Rochester, N. Y. ; William H. Inger- 
soll, of the Ingersoll Watch Co.; F. C. 



8 Aims and Defects of 

Henderschott, of the New York Edison 
Co.; W. R. Brown, of the Berlin Mills 
Co.; Henry T. Noyes, of the German- 
American Button Company, Rochester, 
N. Y.; Charles E. Treman, Ithaca, N. Y. 

I take great pleasure in expressing to 
these gentlemen, and to all who aided us, 
the thanks due them from Hobart College 
for their kind cooperation in so important 
a matter, and for their very valuable and 
illuminating comments and suggestions. 
Their ideas have not only proved of value 
to us, but will, I believe, be of service to 
other colleges in making more clear the 
aims and defects of American college 
education. 

Among the many comments and sug- 
gestions which were received the following 
seemed to be of especial interest, and 
likely to merit the consideration of those 
interested in the problems of college 
education. The expressions of opinion 



College Education 9 

concerning the aims and defects of college 
education, by men in public life, con- 
stitute the first group of comments. 



it 



In answer to your first question I should 
say, tenacity of purpose, concentration, and 
temperance in all things." Concerning de- 
fects, there is "too much time for play and 
entirely too much vacation. Boys do not 
require three or four months of the year for 
vacation. " 

2 "The best teachers ever known to me 
during my preparation for college had, so far 
as I can find out, no theories, but simply a 
love for the subject they taught and an in- 
born desire to interest others in it. 

"It is encouraging to know that you are in 
favor of restricting Hobart to what is usually 
called 'collegiate' work, which, at this mo- 
ment, is greatly needed throughout the 
country. . . . 

1 Quoted from the letter of the Hon. Joseph H. Choate, 
LL.D., formerly American Ambassador at the Court of 
St. James. 

2 Quoted from the letter of the Hon. Andrew D. White, 
LL.D., formerly American Ambassador to Germany, and 
for many years President of Cornell University. 



io Aims and Defects of 

11 Perhaps the greatest mistakes in col- 
legiate education and, indeed, in education 
generally, lie in the failure to interest the 
student in the subjects he is pursuing. " 

1 "The traits of character and mind, which, 
to my notion, a college should aim to develop 
in its students to make them useful and 
efficient in modern life, are love of work, 
courage, common sense, and a true patriotism, 
which will lead the individual to identify 
himself with one of the great political parties 
and through that channel work for the pre- 
servation of our governmental scheme, as 
originally planned, and in opposition to social- 
ism and all socialistic and other mushroom 
theories. 

"The failure to bring home to the young 
man the conviction that he has a life work to 
perform and that any failure on his part to 
carry his share of the common burden, made 
heavier by our complicated civilization, 
throws upon other members of society, an 
unfair share of that burden. " 

1 This letter from Judge Alton B. Parker, LL.D., for- 
merly Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the 
United States, is quoted in full. 



College Education n 

1 "The traits of character and mind which 
a college should aim to develop in the students 
to make them able and efficient in modern life 
are to see clearly and to think clearly; in 
other words, concentration on the subject, 
regardless of what the subject may be. . . . 

"The present training fails to give the 
student thorough mastery of a subject. 
College training, generally, is devoted to 
teaching principles by committing them to 
memory, whereas the principles should be 
learned by object-lessons; so the reason for 
the principles will appear to the student. . . . 

"Not sufficient attention is paid to teach- 
ing students how to think and express them- 
selves on their feet. This would seem to 
apply particularly to young men who have in 
mind public life as their future. " 

2 "Answering your favor of the 5th inst. 
just received, I would say that, according to 
my judgment, the prime object of a college 
training is to develop those tastes for the 

1 Quoted from the letter of the Hon. Henry G. Danforth, 
M.C. 

3 This letter from the Hon. Marcus M. Marks, President 
of the Borough of Manhattan, is quoted in full. 



12 Aims and Defects of 

higher things in life which shall give the 
greatest resources for true living. By true 
living, I mean getting the best out of life, 
the keenest enjoyment of literature, art, 
music, and contact with other human beings 
of the best kind. 

11 Naturally, students should be prepared in 
a way not only to live, but to make a living, 
and in the last year of the college course their 
minds might be directed to those channels of 
human activity in which they would be most 
likely to be successful. In order to accom- 
plish this, a trained psychologist, two or three 
teachers, and a practical man of affairs might 
well constitute a committee for vocational 
guidance; this committee to study the young 
men from their freshman year up, and, at 
the end of the junior year, advise with them 
regarding their particular talents. Many 
young men might thus be saved from mis- 
direction and the consequent loss of time and 
courage which follows so often from trying 
to fit a 'square peg into a round hole. 



> >> 



In an address delivered before the Phi 
Beta Kappa Society of this College in 



College Education 13 

June, 1914, the Hon, George McAneny, 
President of the Board of Aldermen of 
New York City, expressed himself as 
follows: 

"The man who shirks his duty as a voter, 
and as a factor, therefore, in the system of 
democratic government that is our pride and 
hope, deserves but little of democracy. The 
man who, having gained superior equipment 
and training, through college or university, 
fails to give in even larger degree his meed 
of service to the State, will rarely receive 
the plaudits of his fellows, and may never 
claim justly that his full duty has been 
done." 

Next follow the opinions of some prom- 
inent educators, whose views are derived 
from immediate experience and observa- 
tion of college activities, and who speak 
with the authority of those familiar with 
college problems from the inside. 

President Van Hise of the University 
of Wisconsin in an address delivered 



14 Aims and Defects of 

several years ago concerning "The Place 
of the College in Education, " says: 

"It seems to me that the place of the col- 
lege can be no better designated than by the 
phrase which is frequently connected with it, 
liberal arts. According to Murray, liberal arts 
are 'certain branches of learning or apparatus 
for more advanced studies, or for the work 
of life/ They are ' directed to general in- 
tellectual enlargement and refinement, not 
narrowly restricted to the requirements of 
technical or professional training. ' 

"While in the middle ages the field of the 
college of liberal arts was very narrow, in 
modern times it has rapidly extended to 
include all of the subjects which are taught 
under the spirit of that definition. . . . 

"This modern college recognizes as of 
equal importance to mathematics and Latin 
and Greek, work in the modern languages. 
It recognizes of equal importance with the 
languages, philosophy, psychology, political 
economy, political science, history, and sociol- 
ogy, which are fundamental in the education 
of the citizen who is to take part in the 
government of the nation. It recognizes of 



College Education 15 

equal importance with each of these groups, 
a knowledge of the sciences, which lies at 
the basis of all of the material advancement 
of this revolutionary period. Thus the 
field of the modern college is at least three 
times as large as that of the old-fashioned 
classical college. The college of liberal arts 
gives a most effective preliminary training 
for life work. Also the broadened college 
of liberal arts gives its students an oppor- 
tunity to pursue work leading to professional 
studies. If the student plans to become a 
minister, or a lawyer, he may give a large 
part of his time to the humanities. If he 
plans to become a physician, or an engineer, 
or an agriculturalist, he may give the major 
portion of his time to the sciences.' ' 

After cautioning colleges against at- 
tempting to perform the work properly 
belonging to technical schools and the 
graduate departments of universities, he 
continues: 

"The field of the college of liberal arts is 
so large and the work itself is of such superla- 
tive importance that any institution may 



16 Aims and Defects of 

feel that here is ample opportunity for her 
full resources. By concentrating these re- 
sources upon this work, it is certain that more 
satisfactory and important results will be ob- 
tained by doing it well than by attempting to 
cover a larger part of the field of advanced 
education, when so doing will certainly in- 
volve unsatisfactory results throughout.' ' 

1 "In reply to your inquiry as to the traits 
of character that should be developed by 
college training to make students efficient 
and useful, let me say that there are three 
things which I regard as of great importance : 
first, to have the student understand that 
the time in which he is living is related to 
the long past of human history so that his 
respect and sympathy for the work and 
thoughts of men will be great; second, that 
he may know also how to discern what is 
valuable in the life of his own time as judged 
by the standards of value which have been 
established out of the past; and third, that 
he shall have a sense of moral or spiritual 
values to control his judgment. 

x This letter from Eugene A. Noble, LL.D., President 
of Dickinson College, is quoted in full. 



College Education 17 



n 



One of the ways in which present-day 
college education fails to realize its objective 
is that so much emphasis is put upon the 
mercenary standards of commonplace men." 

*"In reply to question one, let me say 
that the traits of character which the college 
should aim to develop are uprightness and 
unselfishness. Our educational institutions 
should endeavor to impress upon young men 
the necessity of effort for the community and 
for society, rather than for personal ends. 
The trait of mind which the college should 
develop is the ability to think clearly and 
conclude logically. Many of the troubles in 
modern commercial and professional life are 
due to lack of ability to think straight and to 
act accordingly. 

"In answer to question two I may say that 
I am less pessimistic than many who are 
constantly criticizing our educational in- 
stitutions. In my judgment, a great many 
of our colleges are very successful in giving 
men the sort of training which makes them 
useful and efficient citizens, and there is, I 

1 This letter from Professor Frederick S. Jones, LL.D., 
Dean of Yale College, is quoted in full. 



1 8 Aims and Defects of 

believe, a realization on the part of our col- 
lege students that the educated man has 
something more before him than mere selfish 
effort for personal advancement and emolu- 
ment; that public service is -the real 6bject 
which the college-bred man should have in 
view. I find a great many students who are 
serious in their desire to do their college work 
with the object of training themselves for this 
sort of life. " 

1 " Generally I would say that the impor- 
tant thing is to emphasize character rather 
than mere knowledge. As you may know 
I was for 25 years in the service of the United 
States Government. The positions held by 
me required the selection and appointment 
of a large number of men, many for impor- 
tant positions. I and my colleagues always 
sought to find men of character rather than 
technical attainments. In nine cases out of 
ten a man has to learn his wprk after entering 
upon it. By character I mean the qualities 
of reliability, thoroughness, conscientious 

1 Quoted from the letter of Professor W. F. Willoughby, 
of the Department of History, Politics, and Economics, 
Princeton University. 



College Education 19 

effort, etc. These are the men who win pro- 
motion. The University should seek to 
impress upon the student the desirability of 
studying all his subjects critically, of deter- 
mining for himself the reasons, and above all 
of expressing himself orally and in writing 
directly and clearly. I think too that every 
effort should be made to have the students 
use the information acquired by them. 
They should be made to see the actual utility 
of their studies as far as possible. " 

"I think that too much attention is given 
to subjects the usefulness of which is not 
apparent to the student. I believe it is quite 
possible to secure training in connection with 
subjects that will have their utility after a 
student leaves the college/ ' 

1 "The traits of character and mind which 
a college should aim to give its students 
are: intelligence, efficiency, initiative, deep 
feeling, earnestness, and courage. I should 
say that most colleges fail to develop suf- 
ficiently the last four of these character- 
istics/ ' 

1 Quoted from the letter of Professor Irving Fisher, of the 
Department of Political Economy, Yale University. 



20 Aims and Defects of 

*"As to ways in which colleges fail, I 
should suppose that the most conspicuous 
one was in using university methods too 
much and school methods too little. It is 
too easy for a student to get through college 
and escape the necessity of getting informa- 
tion." 

The following group of comments are 
from professional men, several of whom 
are also engaged in technical education. 

2 "The college aims to develop whatever 
traits of character and mind every gentleman 
and Christian should have; the qualities 
adapted to make for usefulness and efficiency 
in modern life being just the same as ever." 

"A college education, as far as I can obtain 
an impression nowadays, fails to cultivate 
sufficiently (i) the habit of accuracy and 
detail, (2) a serious persistency in meeting 

1 Quoted from the letter of Professor John B. Clark of 
the Division of Economics and History, New York Uni- 
versity, and of the Carnegie Endowment for International 
Peace. 

2 This letter from Professor John H. Wigmore, LL.D., 
Dean of Northwestern University School of Law, is 
quoted in full. 



College Education 21 

hard work, (3) and a general enthusiasm for 
self-cultivation. I can explain this by saying 
that I attribute these lacks partly to the 
modern theory of education which empha- 
sizes the advantage of the student liking his 
task, and the greater official recognition of 
athletics and social activities." 

lU I have given a good deal of thought at 
different times to what should constitute pre- 
paration for the engineering profession. In 
view of the tendency of the times to specializa- 
tion I think there is a general impression that 
young men should begin training for their; 
specialty as early as possible. This I think 
is a mistake, my personal belief being that 
there is no better preparation for engineering 
than that obtained in a literary or classical 
college. 

"The engineer's work in the future, as I see 
it, is going to be very different from that in 
the past. The problems to be solved will be 
different in that they will embrace questions 
of profound importance to the welfare of this 

1 Quoted from the letter of Professor Mortimer E. 
Cooley, Dean of the Department of Engineering of Michi- 
gan University. 



22 Aims and Defects of 

country. The civilization of our day is made 
possible largely through the work of engineers. 
It might be said to be an engineer's age. 

"The engineer of the future, to be most 
effective, must be a broadly trained man and 
I can imagine nothing better as a preparation 
than such a training as can be furnished by 
Hobart and other colleges of the same order, 
preparatory to the technical training. 

"Answering your two questions more 
specifically, I would say that the traits of 
character and mind to be developed in col- 
lege should be those which train the mind to 
study and reason and to act independently. 
It should develop in the student self-reliance 
in the largest possible measure. One ideal 
is conveyed to my mind by the story of 
'Carrying a Message to Garcia/ 

"I do not myself think that the present 
college education fails to give students the 
kind of training they need. I think it would 
be a serious mistake for the. small college to 
narrow its training with a view to making 
specialists. I think the present tendency 
manifested in the high schools is altogether 
uncommendable, in that it has for its main 
object the preparation of students to earn 



College Education 23 

money. While it is necessary to earn money, 
good citizenship is now, as it always has been, 
even more important. What we need in 
America more than anything else is good 
citizenship and the qualities of heart and 
mind offsetting the marked trend towards 
that end of socialism bordering on anarchy. 
We as a people need to get back on an even 
keel and to develop in our hearts more of the 
love of country, less of the love of self. We 
need sane people and our leaders should have 
a training commanding the respect of those 
who follow them. Our small colleges, with 
the opportunity for personal contact with 
professors and the general training w T hich can 
be given in the smaller colleges, can do vastly 
good work in bringing about this condition.' ' 

1 "I fear I should have to write a book to 
answer properly your questions about a 
college. In this letter I can only give you a 
hint as to what I would seek to accomplish 
if I were an educational czar. 

"I think a college fails in its mission if it 

1 This letter from Professor Joseph F. Johnson, Dean of 
the School of Commerce, New York University, is quoted 
in full. 



24 Aims and Defects of 

does not aim to make its students think 
clearly and independently. I will not say 
that this is the highest aim, but it certainly 
ranks among those of first importance. 
Muddled thinking is responsible for many 
social and economic ills. 

"A college should aim to develop in its 
students a sense of personal responsibility. 
This it can do only by holding them strictly 
to the full performance of their duties. Col- 
lege students should be treated as men, not 
as boys. 

"A college should make its students work 
hard and regularly. There should be no 
easy courses nor easy professors. Hard 
work that cannot be shirked, and that keeps 
a man busy at least eight hours a day, is 
the only character builder that I place any 
reliance upon. 

"Finally, college men should be taught 
the supreme value in life, especially in busi- 
ness, of promptness, punctuality, resourceful- 
ness, and grit. 

"I will not venture to discuss your second 
question, for I know too little about what 
colleges are doing to have an opinion as to 
whether they are really failing or not. I 



College Education 25 

meet many recent college graduates, how- 
ever, and many of them certainly do lack the 
qualities which their colleges should have 
aimed to give them. That does not prove, of 
course, that the colleges have failed in their 
duty, for the factor of heredity is one that 
cannot be ignored. 

" Permit me to express an opinion on a 
point you do not raise. I believe colleges 
should give much more attention than at 
present to the vocational needs of their 
students. Now a college graduate can earn 
a living only by teaching school. From one 
point of view, therefore, a college may be 
regarded as a vocational institution. I 
would have shorthand and bookkeeping 
taught in every college. I would have the 
director of athletics give courses and training 
which would fit a man to train others in 
athletics and physical culture. But you 
don't ask me to write about this subject; 
so I will not make further suggestions. " 

1 "I think that the traits of character and 
mind that the college should aim to develop 

1 Quoted from the letter of Professor J. W. Jenks of the 
School of Commerce, New York University. 



26 Aims and Defects of 

in its students to make them useful and 
efficient are : 

" (i) Trustworthiness. 
11 (2) Power of reasoning. 
11 (3) Exactness. 
11 (4) Diligence. 
" (5) Punctuality. 
" (6) Tolerance." 

1 "The average college graduate lacks an 
appreciation of things generally, [including] 
a lack of respect for the men lower down, 
the working man generally. The trend of 
college education is away from simplicity in 
the conduct of affairs and the object of edu- 
cation should be to teach men to devote their 
attention to essentials rather than details." 

"In reply to your second question, as to 
the ways in which college education fails, a 
particular failure is in the matter of training 
students to express themselves orally on their 
feet before others in a clear, concise, and 
forceful manner. The average college grad- 

1 Quoted from the letter of Calvin W. Rice, Secretary 
of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 



College Education 27 

uate is embarrassed when required to give 
even a simple talk in a meeting/' 

1 "To your first query as to what traits 
of character and mind a college should aim to 
develop in its students to make them useful 
and efficient in modern life I would reply that 
a thorough determination inculcated into 
each student to form the habit in all his 
relations to k own up, pay up, and shut up' 
will be the greatest heritage any university 
can give to its students. 

"Your second question, namely, 'In what 
way does present college education fail in 
giving students training it is able to give?' 
It has seemed to me that perhaps a lack of self- 
reliance and a tendency to rely on their 
degrees to keep them in their jobs is the 
greatest weakness of recent graduates." 

The next group of suggestions and criti- 
cisms come from prominent journalists: 

2 "Probably the weakest thing in our whole 
system of education, from the public school 

1 Quoted from the letter of Edwin B. Katte, Chief 
Engineer Electrical Traction of the New York Central. 
* Quoted from an editorial by W. P. Hamilton, of the 



28 Aims and Defects of 

up, is that we teach the pupil to value the 
superficial thing taught, and not what is the 
whole end and aim of education, the discipline 
of learning. 

"This is the suicidal foolery which sends 
1 gunmen, ' with public and high-school educa- 
tions, to the death-chair, alas, all too infre- 
quently ! Our teachers are supposed to make 
lessons pleasant and easy. Learning may be 
pleasant to the willing learner, but it is never 
easy. 

"Other things being equal, this newspaper 
prefers to employ college graduates ; and it 
has had many of them through its hands in 
the lengthening years of its existence. It 
takes that sort of reporter about a year to 
forget his diploma. By that time he is either 
a newspaper man, or he leaves, because he will 
never be one. In about three years, if he 
can stand the pace, he may discover that he 
actually acquired something at college. That 
something was the discipline of learning. 

"If his diploma is worth anything, it should 
show that he has had developed by his 
teachers the indispensable power of concen- 

Wall Street Journal, concerning our letter of inquiry. 
The editorial appeared in the issue of April 15, 19 14. 



College Education 29 

tration without which there is no success. 
Unless he adopts some profession involving 
technical requirements, there is nothing else 
a college can teach him that he cannot teach 
himself. The world will make him learn it, 
or kill him. 

"This ought to indicate clearly enough how 
our colleges fall down. The problem is a 
psychological one, and not one of pedagogy. 
The training our college students need is one 
that inculcates the lifelong value of hard, but 
intelligent, work." 

1 "You ask me for my opinion about the 
traits of character and mind a college should 
aim to develop. I should say that the prime 
thing a college should teach a boy or girl is a 
loyal love of the truth and a capacity to find 
it out. If the college does not develop these 
traits, no matter how much polish it puts 
upon the mind or heart it is not very much 
worth while. The present college education, 
I should say, does not fail to give students 
training. I should say that life before they 
come to college fails to give them capacity 

1 This letter from W. A. White, of the Emporia Gazette, 
is quoted in full. 



30 Aims and Defects of 

for taking things in, and any failure is not 
perhaps the fault of a college but the fault of 
the early adolescent environment/ ' 

1 " Public service and leadership are the 
traits of character that most need develop- 
ment, and the ability to think is the most 
important trait of the mind to be developed. 
Mere memorizing is of little value. [In the 
opinion of this gentleman the college fails in 
giving training it is able to give.] By not 
having the professors work with the students 
in working hours. If the spirit of the foot- 
ball coach was introduced into the classroom, 
the problem of modern education would be 
solved. The football coach is infinitely more 
severe with his pupils, but at the same time he 
treats them, man to man, as equals. A profes- 
sor is lenient with students' mistakes, but he 
sits upon a pulpit and treats them as inferiors. 

"Let the professor learn from the coach. " 

2 "I cannot think of any desirable trait of 
character or mind which a college should not 

1 Quoted from the letter of Hamilton W. Holt, of the 
Independent. 

2 Quoted from the letter of Ernest H. Abbott of the 
Outlook. 



College Education 31 

tend to develop in its students; but, natu- 
rally, emphasis should be placed upon those 
traits which need development at the particu- 
lar stage of growth at which the student has 
arrived when he is at college. 

"The period from seventeen to twenty-four 
years of age seems to me to be particularly one 
in which the individual is ready for training 
in self-reliance and independence of character 
and mental freedom. It is the period of 
individualism. 

"It does not seem to me that it matters so 
much exactly what the student learns as 
how thoroughly and accurately and efficiently 
he makes use of the resources of the college. 

"It seems to me that there are several grave 
defects common to most colleges: 

" (1) The slipshod and superficial work done 
for the purpose of ' getting by. ' 

"(2) Lack of coordination between what 
is called the humanities and what is called 
vocational training. 

"(3) The failure of the members of the 
faculty and instructors to use their oppor- 
tunities for molding and determining under- 
graduate tradition, which is probably the 
greatest single educative force in any college. 



32 Aims and Defects of 

This lack becomes conspicuous when com- 
pared with the way in which English univer- 
sity tradition has been built up. It may be 
illustrated, by way of contrast, by the citation 
of certain specific instances where faculty 
members have done a great deal to mold 
tradition. One example of this has been the 
influence of Dr. Spaeth at Princeton. 

"(4) The growth of false and materialistic 
standards in college life. This is, perhaps, a 
natural, though I believe an avoidable, se- 
quence to the general advance in material 
comfort characteristic of these days. It 
emphasizes, however, the advantages of 
money and things that money will buy. 

"You will notice I do not mention the 
athletic influence. It is because I believe 
that on the whole athletics have vastly 
improved in the twenty years since I was in 
college, and have been of great educational 
value." 

1 "I believe that a college education, using 
the term in its distinct acceptance, should be 
dedicated to the cultivation of the mind and 

1 Quoted from the letter of the Hon. Charles E. Fitch, 
formerly of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. 



College Education 33 

the building of character as preliminary to and 
preparatory for the university curriculum, 
whether the latter embraces either the higher 
ranges of the sciences, or merely utilitarian 
studies. In other words, I would preserve 
the integrity of the American college, as illus- 
trated in the personalities of Mark Hopkins, 
Francis Wayland, and Eliphalet Nott. 

"I have no sympathy with the assumption 
that a college education is a mere matter of 
commerce — so much instruction for so much 
money — a favorite theory of some of the 
chief exponents of what for the lack of a better 
term they are pleased to call ' the new educa- 
tion. ' 

11 Character building should be the chief 
object to be regarded; that secured the 
secondary objects will take care of themselves. 

" From the college, the vast range of elec- 
tive, elastic courses should be eliminated, 
and a return to former schemes in every 
way fostered, compulsory courses obtaining 
at least to the end of the Sophomore year." 



The following contribution was received 
from a very well-known Socialist: 



34 Aims and Defects of 

1 "The fact that the common mass of 
workers are making possible his education by 
their labor in supplying him with the basic 
necessities of life — food, shelter, and clothing 
— should be sunk deep in the consciousness of 
every student. A lively awareness of this 
fact is necessary to a proper social and co- 
operative spirit in men receiving educational 
opportunities withheld from the mass. To 
this end the newer economics, which tells the 
whole truth about sources of wealth, organ- 
ization of industry, distribution of wealth, 
etc., must be taught in our colleges. 

"To my mind character is best and most 
fully developed in the individual inspired 
with big social ideals. Individual character 
grows with the growth of these social ideals 
that give the larger outlook on life, a thirst 
for human unity, and cause one to strive for 
social and economic justice. This requires 
close and intimate knowledge of the com- 
mon life, which in turn requires not aca- 
demic study and discussion only, but actual 
contact. 

"I am not of course trying to answer your 

1 This letter from Mrs. Rose Pastor Stokes, Socialist, 
is quoted in full. 



College Education 35 

question as fully as it deserves to be answered. 
Having time for but very brief discussion I 
take this opportunity your question offers 
to make this brief suggestion. I have found 
what seemed to me a lack of proper sense of 
social obligation in the college student and, 
not infrequently, an arrogance and an absence 
of human sympathy that can be born only of 
ignorance of fundamental social-economic 
truths — an ignorance which every true edu- 
cator should strive to dispel." 

The comments of financiers and busi- 
ness men constitute the following group. 
All of the men quoted occupy positions 
of great responsibility in their firms, and 
several of them are leaders in the com- 
mercial life of the country. 

1 " There are fundamental traits of char- 
acter which should be developed, such as 
concentration, habits of mental discipline 
which lead to careful work, accurate thinking 

1 Quoted from the letter of J. G. Schmidlapp, of Cin- 
cinnati. 



36 Aims and Defects of 

and keen penetration, and above all, as most 
of our students are reared to-day, teach them 
economy. I have often said that I would 
rather my boys would learn economy than 
to learn the multiplication table, for I believe 
they would get more happiness out of the one 
than out of the other. With these traits 
developed more of our young men would have 
the power of leadership, and they would 
eventually lead to administrative qualifica- 
tions now so rare. 

"One of the weaknesses, to my mind, in 
present college training is that the practical 
is not used more in line with the theoretical, 
therefore we do not develop the traits of 
character that I have referred to. From 
my own experience as a member of the Visit- 
ing Board at West Point at one time, and 
from the information that I have gained 
through the development of college students, 
I strongly favor the compulsory course in- 
stead of the elective course, of study. After 
a lifetime's experience I have found the best 
recommendation a young man can have in 
entering business life is that he can save 
something from his income no matter how 
small it is." 



College Education 37 

I " As to the traits of character and mind 
which a college should aim to develop, there 
are, of course, a large number of these. 
Some of them are the common virtues, but 
there is one thing above all others that needs 
particular attention. It is initiative. In 
my experience, I find a great shortcoming 
among the college men in our employ is their 
failure to go ahead. They can take problems 
and think them out and they can perform 
competently, but one thing seems to be 
trained out of them and that is initiative 
and leadership to go ahead on their own 
responsibility. 

II According to my own observation, almost 
the only advantage that the man who has not 
gone to college has over the college man is 
that the former does not know about so 
many things that cannot be done as the latter, 
and frequently, therefore, he goes ahead and 
does them. Science teaches us the futility 
of striving for perpetual motion and other 
impossibilities but it seems as though too 
many of the college trained men become im- 
bued with the spirit of assuming that there 

1 This letter from William H. Ingersoll, of the Ingersoll 
Watch Co., is quoted in full. 



38 Aims and Defects of 

are too many things in the category of 
perpetual motion. 

"You ask also about the ways in which a 
college education now fails to give students 
the training that it ought to give. I have 
not much to say about this, but in the 
business world, we are discovering that there 
is a new science known as ' management.' 
The capacity to take the materials and the 
conditions at hand and utilize them for the at- 
tainment of a purpose is something that the 
college could well give attention to instead of 
stopping with giving many important sciences 
in detached form but without showing the 
student how to utilize his own powers in order 
to get the most out of what he has learned." 



it 



It is apparent that many young men 
applying for situations object to places 
where regular and constant service is required 
and where no ball games or athletic sports 
interfere with regular hours* 

"The boys should be taught that improve- 
ment of the mind should not have second 
place to improvement of legs and arms. 

1 Quoted from the letter of Rufus A. Sibley, of Sibley, 
Lindsey & Curr Co., Rochester, N. Y. 



College Education 39 

"I think a definite purpose in life — Indus- 
try and Economy, Integrity and Sincerity — 
will bring reward where the object in life 
has any promise of future usefulness to 
society. 

"You will observe I have but little use for 
Fads or Professional Reformers." 

1 u Colleges should aim to develop the 
individual along broad lines rather than to 
concentrate on definite instruction. Char- 
acter should be developed to its highest 
possibility. It is necessary, of course, to 
teach certain specialized knowledge but I 
believe this should be secondary. This 
criticism, however, applies more to the public 
schools than to colleges. If the public schools 
would concentrate more on the development 
of character and cultural processes, the col- 
leges would find their work easier and while 
it would be necessary for the colleges to 
continue the development of character, they 
would be able to give more attention to 
specialized knowledge. 

1 Quoted from the letter of F. C. Henderschott, of the 
New York Edison Co., Executive Secretary of the National 
Association of Corporation Schools. 



40 Aims and Defects of 

"Your second question is so broad that it 
would involve a preparation of a modern col- 
lege course. So many new things have come 
into the world during the past twenty-five 
years that it is becoming apparent specializa- 
tion is, and will continue to be, a necessity, 
yet we must not overlook a broad cultural 
training. Specialization should apply only 
to definite knowledge or knowledge intended 
to fit one for a definite line of work. When 
we consider how very few of the boys and 
girls who are going out into industry and the 
professions are properly trained or education- 
ally fit, we must realize that there is room 
for every educational institution now existing 
and many more must be created.' ' 

1 " Among the traits of character and mind 
essential to make a man efficient and useful 
in modern life, I might mention the following: 

"(a) A genuine desire to serve. 

"(b) Industrious. 

" ( c ) Open minded and teachable. 

"(d) Ambitious. 

"(e) Steady and trustworthy. 

1 Quoted from the letter of Henry T. Noyes, of the 
German-American Button Co., Rochester, N. Y. 



College Education 41 

"(f) Patient (in getting results). 

"(g) Thoroughness and accuracy. 

"Many of the above points might be 
covered by saying that he should have the 
scientific viewpoint developed to a strong 
degree. Then if he has with that a genuine 
unselfish desire to serve, I believe you can be 
reasonably sure of turning out a man who will 
be useful and efficient. 

"As to the weaknesses of our present col- 
leges I would respectfully refer you to an 
article by Lincoln Steffens in Harper's Weekly 
of this week (April 11, 19 14) on this very 
subject. It is well worthy your careful 
consideration. 

"In addition, however, to that I might say 
this, that our college men to-day as a rule do 
not realize at all as they should their obliga- 
tions to society because of the opportunities 
they have enjoyed for education and develop- 
ment. Then again the usual college man 
meets the world with a 'know it air manner, 
and thinks he can go out and do things just 
because he knows it all. He should be made 
to realize that the real value of a college 
education lies in the fact that he should be 
able, because of his training, to study prob- 



42 Aims and Defects of 

lems thoroughly, to analyze them accurately, 
and to draw logical conclusions, and know- 
where to find special knowledge, etc. 

11 A college education fails to make proper 
impression on the usual man as to his real 
responsibilities; his obligations, if you please, 
to his employer; the importance of keeping 
his word strictly; the importance of being 
punctual, etc." 

1 "Without going into the matter to any 
extent, as it would take more time than I 
could give to answer your note fully, I would 
say that honesty, courage, and judgment were 
the three points which are essential for suc- 
cess, and as the curriculum at college only 
can serve as a training school for judgment, 
the rest of the training must be gathered 
through personal contact and general environ- 
ment. It is here that the usual college 
educational scheme is weak, in that over 
emphasis is placed on the thing learned, 
whereas, for instance, it is shown in the 
Montessori method for children that it should 
be placed on the manner in which it is 

1 Quoted from a letter from W. R. Brown, of the Berlin 
Mills Co. 



College Education 43 

learned. In other words, a few things done 
accurately, thoroughly, independently, and 
with pleasure are of much greater value to 
the student than a large amount of hetero- 
geneous knowledge in forming for efficient 
character." 

The two following letters with which 
this symposium on American college 
education closes are of especial interest. 
The author of each is the President of a 
great financial institution, close to the 
summit of the American financial world. 
The letters supplement one another; the 
one is a summary of the defects, the other 
of the aims of college education. 

J "Your questions in regard to traits of 
character and mind which a college should 
aim to develop for modern business life are 
extremely important and pertinent. 

11 The primary defect which I see in young 
college men to-day is lack of intensity of 

1 This letter from F. A. Vanderlip, President of the 
National City Bank, New York City, is quoted in full. 



44 Aims and Defects of 

purpose and this really involves the defects 
of procrastination and insufficient power of 
concentration. I doubt if in the present- 
day college course, there is enough mental 
discipline. I do not believe in hedging the 
student about with so many requirements 
that the opportunity for developing and 
expanding individuality is restricted, but on 
the other hand, I am firmly against so much 
freedom as to permit going along the path 
of least resistance, and developing a laissez- 
faire attitude. Of course, the wise middle 
course is what we are striving for in all walks 
of life. I should say at the present time, 
however, the colleges were erring on the 
side of permitting too much independent 
action. In business there must be strict 
discipline. If there is very little in college, 
the transition is too great for the young man 
entering into his vocation, and he probably 
fails to do himself justice during the time 
when he is adjusting himself to the new 
conditions. I think college training is very 
excellent in that it creates constructive 
imagination, independent thought, and self- 
reliance. This must, however, be tempered 
by the very wholesome factor of judicious 



College Education 45 

discipline, which will produce the quality of 
intense application which is so necessary in 
meeting business problems." 

1 " Trying to answer the queries pro- 
pounded in your note of the 28th inst., is a 
good deal like undertaking to point out the 
royal road to success. There is no such road, 
and probably there is no adequate answer to 
your queries. I assume that all you seek is 
an approximation. 

"The character that a college should try 
to develop in its students is an all-around 
ability to use such powers as the student has, 
and with that a devotion — fanatical if you 
please — to the truth. Existing college edu- 
cation largely fails to give this kind of train- 
ing. It fails because it is primarily seeking 
all kinds of short cuts. It has largely 
abandoned the old idea of the university or 
college training and has substituted voca- 
tional training. The cry is that no college 
education is worth anything that doesn't fit 
a man for some specific thing when he grad- 

1 This letter from Darwin P. Kingsley, President of the 
New York Life Insurance Company, New York City, is 
quoted in full. 



46 Defects of College Education 

uates. I hold that to be an utter mistake. 
A proper college education does not fit a 
man for any specific thing; and at the same 
time it fits him for everything. The present 
college education, eagerly seeking the line of 
least resistance and the shortest road to some 
technical or professional equipment, misses 
forever with such students the time when a 
well-balanced all-around development is pos- 
sible. The college education now popular 
is not a university education at all. It is 
constantly getting narrower, and more and 
more fails to turn out men with an all-around 
equipment. This is the sort of equipment 
that in the long pull of life lands a man at the 
top. The equipment that graduates largely 
get nowadays probably insures some early 
success and a considerable degree of useful- 
ness, but it doesn't insure the success that a 
man is capable of. Such education has its 
place, and it is a very large place, but such 
education falls far short of what I understand 
a university training to be." 



PART II 

RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS 

HTHE comments and suggestions con- 
tained in the above letters fall 
naturally into two groups, those dealing 
with particular matters of college training 
and organization, and those concerning 
general matters of educational policy. 
While it is difficult to make a choice 
among the many good suggestions we 
received in regard to particulars of college 
training, the three following are men- 
tioned as among the most significant 
and practical. The first, because it was 
so widely advocated by those connected 
with social and political activities. The 
second because, apparently, it promised 

47 



48 Aims and Defects of 

much aid and comfort to both faculty 
and students, who unfortunately are not 
always of a mutual fit. The third calls 
attention to an aspect of college life of 
very decided importance, which stands 
in danger of being forgotten amid the 
increasing complexity of the machinery, 
and because of the immense size, of many 
of our American institutions of learning. 
Socialists, Democrats, and Republicans 
alike recommend that the college impart 
to its students a deeper sense of the duty 
of public service. Each of these widely 
different political groups used almost the 
same arguments, to the effect that col- 
lege graduates, having enjoyed special 
privileges and opportunities provided by 
the community, owed in unusual meas- 
ure service to the State. Curious as it 
may be to find representatives of such 
different political doctrines united on the 
common ground of the distinctly aristo- 



College Education 49 

cratic sentiment of noblesse oblige, it is 
encouraging to observe such unanimity, 
among all classes, of opinion in regard to 
the need of better and more widely 
educated men assuming leadership in 
public affairs. 

Another suggestion of good promise was 
that each college organize a committee on 
vocational guidance, to aid its students 
in making wise choices of future occupa- 
tions. Commissions of vocational guid- 
ance have done very good work in large 
business and manufacturing establish- 
ments in the selection of employees fitted 
by temperament and individual ability 
for doing certain kinds of work. It would 
seem that the same methods might be 
applied to advantage in guiding college 
students to choose a profession or occupa- 
tion suited to their individual tempera- 
ments and abilities. 

As a special defect was mentioned: 



50 Aims and Defects of 

"The failure of the members of the faculty 
and instructors to use their opportunities for 
molding and determining undergraduate tra- 
dition, which is probably the greatest single 
educative force in any college. This lack 
becomes conspicuous when compared with the 
way in which English university tradition 
has been built up." 

In extenuation it might be urged, that 
beside the political, scientific, and literary 
traditions which have arisen in the course 
of their long and splendid history, the 
two great English universities are com- 
posed of small colleges, in whose buildings 
and grounds dons and students read, eat, 
and live together. English university 
life thus permits greater intellectual and 
personal association than is possible even 
in our small colleges, while it also offers 
the wider outlook and more significant 
relationships with the great world to be 
found in connection with important uni- 
versities. The combination of these ad- 



College Education 51 

vantages we have yet to obtain, although 
many of our institutions of higher learn- 
ing have very excellent undergraduate 
traditions, which decidedly show the 
influence of the notable men of the past 
and present connected with their faculties. 
In other words we need the Oxford 
system in America both in our larger 
separate colleges, and, even more decid- 
edly, in the undergraduate departments of 
our great universities. Or, if the word 
Oxford should offend the taste of certain 
strenuously hyphenated individuals, we 
need some form of college organization 
which shall effectively break up the mob- 
system of college education now generally 
in vogue. Some more human and 
friendly scheme is required which shall 
not only bring students and faculty in 
closer touch, but also bring the students 
themselves in more intimate contact, 
and teach different kinds of individuals 



52 Aims and Defects of 

to know and appreciate the good qualities 
of one another. This would result in 
what some light-thinking but enthusiastic 
individuals would be pleased to call "an 
increase of democracy in college.' ' I 
dislike the term democracy, which is a 
spell used by demagogues to conjure votes 
with, and has now so far lost its original 
signification as to be synonymous with 
any kind of reform or pseudo-reform in 
politics or manners. I agree, however, 
with the idea which perhaps is meant by 
the words "increase in democracy, " and 
believe that there would result an increase 
of kindliness and mutual appreciation and 
respect, more knowledge and culture 
among the students, and an increase of 
humanity and young-heartedness among 
the faculty, and, above all, an increased 
understanding of others, which would 
tend to produce more charitable leaders 
of a Christian society- 



College Education 53 

Other matters well worthy of consider- 
ation, such as the desirability of develop- 
ing qualities of leadership, executive 
ability, accuracy, etc., were also suggested, 
but which do not require special comment 
as the letters speak very plainly for them- 
selves. 

In regard to general matters of educa- 
tional policy, considering the latitude of 
discussion invited by the questions, and 
the freedom and originality expressed in 
the replies, in regard to two matters of 
prime importance the consensus of opin- 
ion is decisive. The one matter relates 
to the chief aim, the other to perhaps 
the worst defect of college education. 

The defect in college training most 
often condemned is lack of discipline, or, 
as it was expressed by one man, "slipshod 
and superficial work done for the purpose 
of ' getting by. ' " This criticism I believe 
is just, although the fault is by no means 



54 Aims and Defects of 

monopolized by college students. It is 
sometimes to be found among high school 
graduates, or even among those who have 
had merely a grammar school education. 
Such faults are very common defects of 
immaturity and inexperience, and thus 
often appear in a conspicuous degree in 
college men entering business, not because 
they have been in college, but because, 
as yet, they lack the special training which 
only the discipline of actual business 
can give. The marked presence of such 
faults in college graduates indicates neg- 
lect on the part of college authorities of 
the many opportunities for cultivating a 
sense of responsibility in the students, 
which college life offers both within and 
without the classroom. The removal of 
this reproach from college training might 
doubtless be accelerated by the activities 
of an efficient dean and "office," by the 
enforcement of more rigid standards of 



College Education 55 

accuracy and scholarship, and by an 
increased demand for clearness and pre- 
cision in written work, not merely in the 
English department, but in all depart- 
ments. Such measures would go far 
toward curing the "evils of slipshod letter 
writing, " and eliminating other signs of 
callowness in recent college graduates, 
concerning which there is much reason 
for complaint. 

In regard to the chief aim of college 
training there seemed to be an even 
greater unity of opinion. The true aim 
of college education is, in the opinion of 
the leading men of America whom we 
consulted, the development of character 
and the training of intellectual power, and 
not the acquisition of specialized or 
technical knowledge. Too much special- 
ization by undergraduates, particularly 
entering upon technical courses without a 
sufficiently broad foundation of general 



56 Aims and Defects of 

culture, was held by the dean of a great 
engineering school to be harmful to the 
student's general mental development 
and detrimental to his ultimate success. 
Nowhere was the value of a general 
college education more emphasized than 
in the comments of prominent business 
men, leading lawyers and engineers, and 
men engaged in technical education. 
Far greater in value than technical 
knowledge for success in life was con- 
sidered the acquisition of the ability to 
think, the power of concentration, and the 
development of originality and initiative. 
As the prime aim of college education, 
outranking in importance even the train- 
ing of the intellectual powers, was held 
the development of character, more par- 
ticularly the sense of public service, 
responsibility, seriousness of purpose, and 
temperance in all things. In short, our 
inquiries showed that the judgment of 



College Education 57 

representative men in American public, 
professional, and business life is decidedly 
in favor of a liberal education for under- 
graduates rather than a technical one. 

Nevertheless, it is also evident from 
many of the comments received that our 
traditional college education is not fully 
adequate to meet the demand for a 
general training commensurate with the 
increasing complexities of our twentieth- 
century civilization. This is not because 
college education is too general, but be- 
cause it is too narrow. Sound, of proved 
value, and needed perhaps more than 
ever in this age of expanding individual 
activities, our cultural college education 
might very well include within its scope 
instruction in certain matters of serious 
importance to a man of affairs in this day 
and generation. A certain grounding in 
the principles of law, and especially those 
of commercial law and contracts, is not 



58 Aims and Defects of 

only a desirable and a most useful equip- 
ment for the modern battle of life, as Mr. 
Eastman has pointed out in his introduc- 
tion to this book, but would have decided 
general educational value. Mr. East- 
man's other suggestions, first in regard to 
the treatment of employees and the ethical 
principles involved in the relations of 
employer and employee, and secondly, 
concerning cost accounting, more par- 
ticularly overhead expense and its rela- 
tions to cost of production, wages, etc., 
deal with matters of serious and far- 
reaching importance, concerning which 
not only the public in general, but the 
educated public, and even our University 
Club members have far too little know- 
ledge. The problem of the just employ- 
ment and the reciprocal duties of employer 
and employee is one of the most pressing 
of our times, and has political, social, and 
economic consequences of the gravest 



College Education 59 

nature. Cost accounting is so important 
in modern business that its basic principles 
are part of the instruction given in all 
modern general courses in economics. A 
course confined to this subject should be 
included as a regular advanced course in 
every economics department, and be 
required of every student contemplating 
a business career. Such a course might 
save many a young man of good promise 
entering business life from financial dis- 
aster, and his friends and the community 
from the misfortunes attendant upon such 
failures. 

At present, many of our professional 
schools in law, in medicine, in theology, 
and in engineering, require colleges and 
universities to give undergraduate in- 
struction in certain subjects which lie at 
the basis of their professional training, 
by making a knowledge of these subjects 
a condition of admission. Such require- 



60 Aims and Defects of 

merits are proper provided the courses 
have educational value, and are not so 
many in number as to interfere with the 
all-around intellectual development of the 
undergraduate. Courses in business law 
and business ethics would have very high 
general educational value, while a course 
in cost accounting would compare very 
favorably in these respects with a course 
in organic chemistry, or in the higher 
mathematics. A reasonable amount of 
instruction in subjects fundamental to 
modern business would moreover increase 
the efficiency of the college as an institu- 
tion of liberal learning by adding a certain 
side to the student's general training in 
which most men are deficient at the time 
of graduation, and by bringing them in 
more intimate contact with some of the 
most vital and pressing problems of the 
day. It is the broadening and humaniz- 
ing influence of a subject as well as its 



College Education 61 

value to the individual as a preparation 
for life which makes it a proper subject 
for college instruction. Furthermore, 
such training as has just been mentioned 
would make the young man of far more 
use to his employer, who after all must 
pay for his business education for some 
time after he leaves college, for until he 
acquires knowledge of the business and 
habits of business discipline, he is a 
liability rather than an asset to the firm 
employing him. 

It is evident, however, that the class- 
room work of even the most scholarly 
institution would not suffice for the cul- 
tivation of all the traits of mind and 
character, so cordially recommended by 
our friends and advisers. Yet, despite 
this fact, and in spite of the inadequate 
means at their disposal, of the hampering 
limitations of equipment, of endowment, 
and of personnel, our colleges send into 



62 Aims and Defects of 

the world at each Commencement many 
fair youths, intelligent, virtuous, and 
strong of body, who are destined to be- 
come leaders in the life of their time. 
Concerning these young men we pro- 
fessors are apt to congratulate ourselves 
unduly, for however beneficial to their 
intellectual powers may be the instruction 
we are instrumental in giving, it is in 
student life outside the classroom, rather 
than within it, that most men's characters 
are made or marred. It is here that the 
force of the traditions and ideals of the 
college exert their potent influence for 
good or evil. It is here that traits of 
loyalty, of cooperation and self-sacrifice 
for common ends, are developed, or 
remain uncultivated. It is here that the 
sense of responsibility to one's fellows, 
and of devotion to the group of which one 
is a part, must be acquired, if it is to 
be obtained at all. It is, therefore, of 



College Education 63 

prime importance that all the forces of 
college life be taken into consideration by 
those in authority, for it is not merely in 
matters of scholarship that the educa- 
tional efficiency of our different institu- 
tions differs widely. The statement of 
Aristotle, so often quoted, that impulses 
acted upon tend to form habits, and that 
habits combine to form character, seems 
especially to be true of student life. 
There are three forms of such activities 
of decisive importance in college, intel- 
lectual habits, social habits, and physical 
habits; since the traits of mind and 
character formed during college life are 
largely the result of these three kinds of 
activity. 

In the scholastic work of the college 
there is spread before the student the 
best which the wisest men of all the ages 
have accomplished in literature, in science, 
and in philosophy. The student should 



64 Aims and Defects of 

be made to feel that he enters the class- 
room with the purpose of finding out, 
appreciating, and making real to himself 
what has been thought, and done, and 
written in the world; with the intention 
to train his mind to think, so that it 
shall plow into things like a steam shovel, 
deep down until it strikes the very bed 
rock. Then he will see things clearly 
and see them whole, and will not be 
blinded by words or prejudices, or fads, 
or by popular opinion. As an educated 
man it will be his duty to lead and not 
trail behind public opinion. The college 
should make each student realize that he 
is not educated until he has found some- 
thing in literature, in science, in art, or 
in philosophy, which appeals to him so 
much that he will follow it up, at least 
as an avocation, after he leaves college. 
How can anyone consider himself edu- 
cated to whom no form of learning ap- 



College Education 65 

peals? Each student should get at least 
one live intellectual interest from his col- 
lege course which will remain a source of 
pleasure and spiritual profit throughout 
his life. 

Man is by nature a social being, and 
finds his good, his moral progress in action 
with his fellows. Every student should 
take part in college activities, and make 
something better for his work and influ- 
ence. He should be an asset to the 
college and not a fixed charge. There is 
excellent moral training to be found in 
fraternity life, in taking part in student 
clubs and organizations, in working for 
the college, in shouldering responsibil- 
ities, in acquiring business methods, in 
looking after and endeavoring to improve 
the conduct and character and keep up 
the scholarship of the younger men, as is 
so frequently done by the upperclassmen 
in the clubs and fraternities. 



66 Aims and Defects of 

Social intercourse, however, is wider 
than college clubs and organizations, 
valuable as is the training which they 
give. There is more general training 
which relates to all with whom each comes 
in contact, both within and without the 
college walls. In such relations certain 
laws and conventions have arisen natu- 
rally, and have found expression in canons 
of ethics and social standards. Of the 
more fundamental principles the most are 
known already, indeed so well known that 
"knowledge of them is wont to outlast 
knowledge of the sciences themselves." 
The practical embodiment of such prin- 
ciples in the lives of men and women is 
quite as necessary and quite as difficult 
as ever. The college, however, should 
impart such ethical knowledge, that each 
student should not only feel his obliga- 
tions toward the decalogue, and his per- 
sonal responsibility as a member of the 



College Education 67 

community, which duty may be made so 
evident in college, but should also be made 
to understand that intelligence and sound 
ideals are needed in the solution of the 
wider and more complex problems of our 
ethical and political life. Further, that 
laws exist therein which do not change 
either at the will of popular majorities or 
at the desire of the unpopular rich, but 
that beyond the power of successful or 
unsuccessful greed, or force, to sway or 
influence, exist the natural norms of life 
and conduct in conformity with which 
alone a good life may be constructed, an 
ideal life attained, by the individual or by 
the State. 

Each student should take part in 
athletics, of which the worst fault is not 
that they are too prevalent, but that 
they are not participated in by the stu- 
dent body as a whole; and that unsports- 
manlike standards of conduct sometimes 



68 Aims and Defects of 

arise. It is not a bad thing for a student 
to have, as one of his ambitions, the 
making of a team sooner or later during 
his college course. He may not make his 
team, but he will develop pertinacity, and 
courage, and will power, while aiding 
greatly in giving that encouragement and 
support which all forms of college activi- 
ties need from every student, and which 
most forms of public acitivities need from 
members of the community. Students 
should play their games to win, but should 
not forget it is a mere game that they are 
playing. The fate of the country does not 
depend on the outcome of any particular 
game, but may depend on the honor, the 
fairness, and the fortitude with which all 
its games, big and little, are conducted. 

If a student has played his part with 
distinction, or even to the best of his 
ability, in all these sides of college life, 
he cannot easily fail of acquiring, in so 



College Education 69 

far as the college can induce him to 
acquire, those traits of mind and char- 
acter which shall make him useful and 
efficient in modern life. 

To this end it is the duty of the college 
authorities and of the public to bring it 
about that not merely are certain subjects 
taught, in a competent manner, but that 
they be taught so well as to arouse the 
interest of all students of average intel- 
ligence, and that the scholastic discipline 
be so strict that 110 habits of laziness or 
slipshod methods of thought or work be 
permitted. It is also the duty of the 
college not merely to tolerate student 
clubs, fraternities, and other college 
organizations, but to cooperate most 
cordially with them in securing the high- 
est possible personal development of 
its students. All such organizations rest 
on social instincts indispensable to society 
and it is upon the form such instincts are 



70 Aims and Defects of 

allowed to take and the manner in which 
they are permitted to develop that many 
of the best or worst traits of student 
character result. It is by sympathetic 
guidance of such social activities, not by 
their suppression or mere toleration, that 
the development of such good qualities 
is to be secured. In regard to athletics 
the situation is much the same. Athletics 
have come to stay, and now occupy a 
great deal of time formerly given to 
drinking and dissipation, as anyone famil- 
iar with college life during the middle of 
the last century will admit. They some- 
times occupy too much study time, and 
because of their direct interest and strong 
appeal to the student imagination are apt 
to occupy too exclusively the focus of his 
attention, especially in the spring and fall. 
They also sometimes create false estimates 
of values in his mind. Nevertheless, 
college life is far better with them than 



College Education 71 

without them, and by proper control and 
influence, they may be made, as they are 
in many schools and colleges, most 
powerful means of moral as well as of 
physical education. 

If then the aim of college training is the 
development of character and of intel- 
lectual ability through study, through 
association with others, and through 
manly sports conducted with honor and 
high-mindedness, it follows that no one- 
sided development is truly excellent. It 
is neither the grind nor the college prig, 
politician or social butterfly, nor the poor 
brainless athlete who is the right type 
of college man. It is rather the one 
who by daily habit and endeavor has 
won the secure possession of intellectual 
power and culture, of character and 
enlightenment, and of a disciplined, 
healthy body, who is truly the representa- 
tive college man. Above all, it is the 



r 



72 Aims and Defects of 

one whose other acquisitions have been 
influenced by the noble spirit and high 
ideals of his Alma Mater, in whose influ- 
ence he involuntarily forms his attitude 
toward the problems of society, and in 
whose light he learns his first philosophy 
of life. 

It is as centers of inspiration and of 
culture, as the guardians of the spirit of 
true appreciation of beautiful things in 
the art and literature of all ages, as 
creators of science and philosophy, as 
recorders of history, as the critics of 
political and social movements and ideas, 
and as the sources of new and inspiring 
religious and ethical developments, that 
our colleges and universities should stand. 
In the presence of such august mysteries 
as these no student shall fail in having 
his life influenced for the better, to his 
own greater happiness, to the welfare of 
society, to the profit of the State. 



College Education 73 

Imperfectly as this ideal is realized by 
our existing institutions hampered as they 
are by the need of men and money to 
carry on their work, and by the unfortu- 
nate educational experiments many of 
them have tried, yet if the judgment of 
those whom we consulted is correct, it 
would imply that the best form of college 
education, both as a preparation for life 
and as preliminary to training in the law, 
in medicine, in engineering, or in any 
profession, is at present to be obtained 
in what has sometimes been known as a 
cultural college — one whose aim is not to 
give specialized instruction to its under- 
graduates, but to impart a broad and 
basic knowledge of literature and art, of 
science and philosophy, of history and 
politics, to the end that at graduation its 
students may have an intelligent appreci- 
ation of what has been thought and done 
and written in the world- 



74 Aims and Defects of 

The place for technical instruction, in 
law, in medicine, in theology, in engineer- 
ing, in agriculture, in commerce, or in 
other of the professions or arts, would 
seem to be in the independent technical 
schools, or in those attached as graduate 
departments to the universities. A tech- 
nical and a liberal education seem far 
better taken separately than mixed. 

This does not mean, however, that the 
college student should not be allowed to 
elect, especially during his last two years 
in college, a considerable portion of his 
work in those subjects which lie at the 
foundations of a knowledge of his future 
profession, nor does it imply that the 
traditional college education is adequate 
in all respects, but, as has already been 
pointed out, its curriculum might very 
well be supplemented in certain particu- 
lars to meet the needs of the time. 

It is the purpose of several of our lead- 



College Education 75 

ing universities ultimately to require 
all who enter their professional schools to 
be college graduates. Harvard and Johns 
Hopkins have already done so. Ap- 
parently this is the ideal arrangement, 
and is gradually being followed by those 
institutions desirous of obtaining the best 
possible results, while a vast number of 
students, ambitious to receive the best 
education our country offers, are now 
following this plan and are taking a 
bachelor's degree in arts, before entering 
upon their courses of professional study. 

The student, however, who desires 
certain special training, yet who is unable 
or unwilling to go through both college 
and a professional school, may oftentimes 
be forced to choose between a liberal and 
a technical education. There are many 
considerations properly affecting such a 
decision, among which are the immediate 
pressure of circumstances and need of 



76 Aims and Defects of 

immediate earning capacity, character 
and temperament, individual interests 
and capacity for doing certain kinds of 
work. No one would be foolish enough 
to try and lay down a rule to govern all 
such cases. Possibly however, it is not 
out of place to consider the trend of the 
answers we received, and the character 
and ability of those who have interested 
themselves sufficiently in the welfare of 
college men and women, and who are 
deeply enough impressed by the impor- 
tance of college education, to take the time 
and trouble necessary to so carefully 
express their views, and so considerately 
to aid us and others who might be con- 
cerned with their counsel and advice. 

The ideals of the best type of American 
college obtained very ample justification 
in the results of our inquiry. Such 
education is held to be of value, not only 
as a broad foundation for any form of 



College Education 77 

professional or business training, and as 
an excellent preparation for understand- 
ing those wider problems of public interest, 
to the solution of which it is the duty of 
each citizen to contribute ; but is also the 
most approved means of entering upon 
that rich enjoyment of intellectual pleas- 
ures possible only to the liberally educated 
man. 

It might perhaps be inferred from these 
results that those colleges desiring to 
follow the soundest educational practice, 
and to properly adapt their curricula of 
studies to meet modern conditions, would 
do so best by making more effort to give 
their students a liberal education than 
many of them are now attempting. 

Certain of our small colleges, together 
with a few of the large universities, have 
steadfastly maintained their faith in the 
value of a liberal education to produce 
those traits of mind and character which 



78 Defects of College Education 

a college should aim to develop in its 
students to make them useful and efficient 
in modern life, in the face of much 
criticism, and despite the success of other 
institutions which have yielded so grace- 
fully to popular demand. It is, therefore, 
interesting to know that the best opinion 
in America is in favor of just that type 
of education which the cultural colleges 
have always given. It is to this type of 
education, moreover, to which several 
of those colleges which for a time fol- 
lowed other aims are again returning. 



THE END 



